The Importance of Social Media Trends in Corporate Communication

Dr. Scott D’Urso, an assistant professor here at the Diedrich College of Communication, has integrated the importance of social media into our class this semester, “Issues in Corporate Communication.”

It was a subject that my peers and I did not expect social media to be of such importance in the corporate communication field. Whether we’ve undermined its importance or have found social media to already be such a big part of our lives, we did not realize how great of an impact it has on our lives today, how fast it is growing, and how important it will be in the future in both our personal lives and our careers.

In fact, Dr. D’Urso was recently interviewed by the local ABC News affiliate WISN 12 regarding the effect of social media on families and relationships. As his students, we are fortunate enough to receive a wealth of information regarding social media from Dr. D’Urso three times each week. Many textbooks are only updated once a year, and as many already know, social media and the internet are updated with information and changing consistently every second of every day. For corporate communication majors, this means that many of us will be part of a communications team for a large company and it will be our responsibility to manage the company’s reputation that can be so easily praised or ridiculed with the use of social media by people all over the world.

As many students and young professionals are only warned of the repercussions of applying for jobs and having future employers checking out their Facebook profile, it is easy to forget that social media is a huge part of every aspect of our lives. Social media is not just an important consideration in finding a job; it is an important consideration in our daily lives, our companies, our reputations, and our livelihood.

Regardless of age, profession or knowledge of social media and technology, it is important to realize the ways in which the world is changing. In the beginning of class one day, Dr. D’Urso showed us a video about social media that was particularly interesting—even to a classroom full of twenty-somethings that collectively own every new gadget and utilize every social media outlet. At the end of the video, the entire classroom was dead silent in amazement. This video, from YouTube, was produced by Socialnomics. According to the company’s website, Socialnomics was founded by Erik Qualman with the intent of providing short social stories, statistics, studies and surprises.

Whether or not you are aware of how attached you are to your laptop, your phone, your kindle, or your iPod, you will likely be astonished by the facts presented in this video. In just under five minutes, it will open your eyes to just how fast social media is taking over the world.

Lauren Haberkorn is a junior studying Corporate Communication at Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication.